


the you i’ve come to know

by thedreamerdelta



Series: Scattered Dreams [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, Drabble, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Gen, Shenanigans, tldr estinien wants to be painted like one of your ishgardian wenches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 18:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30143583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedreamerdelta/pseuds/thedreamerdelta
Summary: Estinien and Cethys find some shared down time to talk about hobbies.
Series: Scattered Dreams [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2218602
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	the you i’ve come to know

**Author's Note:**

> my brain refused to work on anything i had already started so this is what i am getting, i _guess_

“What did you see?” 

“A possible past,” Cethys mused, “Or so I can only assume.” She looked up at Estinien appraisingly. “You... never _did_ train me in the arts of the Knights Dragoon before everything happened, correct?”

He snorted into his coffee. “No, you were off galavanting with - what’s his face, that white haired catboy-”

Her ear twitched. “His name’s X’rhun, Estinien - and we weren’t _galavanting_ , he was _teaching_ me Red Magic.” 

"Whatever."

She sighed and stretched out on the opposite couch. “So merely a possible past, then, to be sure, not a real one.”

The two of them sat in the basement of her humble Mist cottage, armour doffed and fireplace stoked. She wasn’t sure if he’d had a waypoint in Vylbrand - so she’d offered it up without a thought. It was a place to sleep if one had nowhere else, and rather than her (admittedly grudgingly-acquired) friend sleep with the fishes, she’d suggested he take her couch instead.

Estinien, for his part, still wasn’t sure if it was his brightest decision to take the Warrior of Light up on it. Not when she kept _seeing_ things, even if they didn’t happen. Damn Echo. 

That said, her “Ironworks Limited Edition Boilermaster 5000” had to be a gift from Halone herself. It certainly _dispensed_ something that could have been the nectar of the goddess.

The private hot tub that doubled as her bath was a nice perk, too.

He looked sidelong at the much smaller Miqo’te. “Not a future?”

She shook her head. “My version of the Echo doesn’t work like that. Besides, you were - erm.” She gestured vaguely at his aetherically altered shoulder. “Slightly less decorated.”

  
He guffawed.

  
“Well, I didn’t know what else to call it!”

“Nude?” 

“You- That’s not-” Cethys sputtered. “You _had_ armor on! _No!”_

“The whole time?” He smirked.

 _“Yes!”_ she yelled indignantly, skin gone flushed from pale to brightest red. “You were wearing your old set of armor - _the whole time, mind you_ \- and you and I and Ser Alberic were training on top of those reddish peak - whatsits, in south-western Coerthas Central, the ones that look like teeth.”

Estinien snorted and propped his feet up on the low table. “Well that certainly never happened.” He thrust his empty coffee cup at her. “More?”

Cethys smiled and sighed, shaking her head. “Yeah, sure.” She took their cups and went back upstairs to brew a fresh batch, not noticing his eyes trailing after her.

* * *

  
  


Estinien stared at the painting on the wall.

Aymeric’s beautiful blue eyes stared steadily back at him.

“Hey, I’m back - oh.” Cethys arrived at the bottom of the stairs, spotted him and froze. “You - uh. You can. Well.” 

He looked at her incredulously. 

“Erm. Do you like it?” 

“Surely you didn’t buy this for me?”

“Well, if you want it, I suppose,” she replied, tail tucked around one leg nervously. “But I mean- well, it’s just practice, and-”

“Practice,” Estinien interrupted flatly, one hand reaching out to lightly caress the frame. “You painted this?”

She nodded.

“I see.” 

Cethys looked down. “I know it’s not very good yet-”

“I want one.” 

“-but I’m still practicing, and-- Wait, you do?” She looked up from where her embarrassed gaze had been boring a hole in the floor. “Whatever for?”

“Well, for one, Aymeric will more than likely want this in his office, so I can’t have this one.”

She flushed. “Don’t you dare tell him.” 

He raised an eyebrow.

“I mean it, Estinien!”

“Fine, fine,” he grumbled. “But I meant one of myself, mind you.”

  
  


Silence.

  
  


Cethys stared blankly, heart stuttering. “Excuse me?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks as always to the lovely and delightful [book club discord](https://discord.gg/enabling-debauched-xivfic) for all their words of wholesome encouragement (and other, slightly less pure emotions).


End file.
